Charities governing digital spend
For trustees and chief executives accountable for donated money spent on digital. The questions run from what to check before committing anything to how to run a tender the Charity Commission would recognise.
Working out whether there is a problem
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What should trustees check before committing charity money to digital?
- The charity digital spend checklist: questions to answer before you commit a pennyA plain checklist for trustees and charity leaders. The questions to answer before spending on a website, system or agency, so you spend once.
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Can a charity do digital well on a small budget?
- Digital on a charity budgetSix of the 55 businesses I audited were charities. Same digital problems as everyone else, fraction of the budget. Here's what works when free is the only option.
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Is digital a board matter or a staff one?
- Why accessibility is a governance issue, not a design extraAccessibility gets treated as a design preference and priced as an optional extra. For most boards it is a legal duty with nobody's name against it.
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Are the reports we are shown telling us the truth?
- If your dashboard only carries good news, it is fictionPublishes 12 October 2026
Weighing it up
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Is our agency marking its own homework?
- Is your charity's agency marking its own homework?When an agency's monthly report is rosier than the real data. How charities can check the reports they're sent, and the questions to ask.
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What should the board ask before approving an AI project?
- What boards should ask before approving an AI projectSix questions a board can ask about an AI proposal without understanding the technology. None of them require a technical answer.
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Is accessibility a nice-to-have?
- Accessibility is not the polish, it is the productPublishes 13 October 2026
Deciding and buying
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How do we run a tender to Charity Commission standards?
- How to run a charity tech tender to Charity Commission standardsA short, practical guide to running a charity technology or website tender that is fair, transparent and defensible, and gets you value for donated money.
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Should we take the cheapest bid?
- The cheapest bid is the most expensive decision on the tablePicking on price is not prudence, it is deferred cost. Why the money saved at selection gets spent twice in delivery, and how to score value instead.
The evidence
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